SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine--Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. today announced plans to build a new manufacturing and warehouse facility in China to expand its internal chip-assembly and testing capabilities. Over the next five years, the total investment will be about $200 million, said Fairchild.

The 800,000-square-foot facility will be built in three phases and contain a "state-of-the art" assembly and test facility for logic, discrete, and analog chips, said the company. The proposed plant will be located in the China-Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park, which is in the Jiangsu Province of China. Fairchild said the new facility will perform packaging and final testing of devices that will be shipped to local customers in China as well as export to the rest of Asia, Europe and the Americas.

Currently, Fairchild Semiconductor outsources more than 50% of its assembly and test volume. The new Suzhou plant will balance the company's future use of internal backend manufacturing capacity and outside contractors, said Fairchild.

"This is a landmark announcement for Fairchild," said Kirk Pond, president, CEO and chairman of the South Portland-based company. "As a cornerstone of our growth strategy, we plan to more than double sales in China by 2004. We're the leading global supplier of power components, and this plant in Suzhou will play a vital role in supplying our customers with multi-market semiconductors that meet the needs of next generation applications," Pond said.

The first phase of the facility is planned to start in early 2002 with the construction of a $10 million, 120,000-square-foot advanced backend facility. The company said it is planning a 280,000-square-foot extension to the plant, followed by another 400,000 square feet of factory space. The total investment, including land purchase, construction costs and tooling, is expected to be $200 million over the next five years, according to Fairchild.